Travelling to Busia: January 6

19Jan

9:45 am
Well, I was careful to use my mosquito net last night, and still got bit. Oh well…it’s all part of the experience.
Last night Leenie and I were up till 11:30 sorting eyeglasses. We had such a good time of it. We tried on all the crazy pairs and all the really high prescriptions. It was pretty hilarious.

Now we are sitting waiting for our car to come and take us to Busia. Today will be very packed. Busia is five hours’ drive away, plus we are stopping twice along the way to do eye clinics. Pastor Hummer wants to spend six hours at each stop, and I don’t see how that will happen as it is already nearly ten and we haven’t left yet. If we spend six hours at each place it will be three in the morning when we get to Busia. But Pastor Hummer is so crazy, I wouldn’t put it past him to do that!
I haven’t gotten to see Derrick in two days…I hope I have at least a short while with him to teach him guitar. It’s so exciting to know that this guitar I am carrying will soon be his. I can’t wait to tell him!

11:15 am
I can’t write much because we’re driving and I’ll get carsick…sigh…but there are a couple of very very important things that I absolutely must write right now.
1. We just passed a little wooden shack called “The Pork Joint” with various pig parts hanging on a string across the front. This is Africa, people.
2. If I want to live here one day (which I do) I must learn to carry things on my head.
3. We are driving over the Nile river right now as I write this.

Lunch 😀

9:00 pm
The power is out. Again. But what else is new?
Living by candlelight makes me feel even more Africa-ish. It’s really nice.
We’re in Busia finally. Just got here. I got to see Nyangweso again, but I have yet to see Shadrack and Leonard. I wonder if they still work here?
We only ended up going to one of the two churches we had planned, but we did spend a full six hours there.
Here in Uganda you never get what you bargain for. Yesterday’s clinic had far fewer patients than we had anticipated, but today’s had way more. Way more. But a guy accepted Christ after getting his glasses, so it was completely worth it.
My translator, Emma, was awesome. He’s a really cool guy. I simply love meeting new people in my travels, especially when they’re close to my age and I can relate to them. I had a lot of fun meeting him. But he ended up getting sick and going home early, which was a bummer.
And today we saw a pink chicken! A bright, highlighter-pink chicken. Its owners dyed it so it wouldn’t attract hawks and such. It was pretty hardcore.

Then in the evening after the clinic was over but we hadn’t left the church yet, some guys were playing the keyboard and I joined them and we played music for a while. Then I got out my guitar (Derrick’s, actually!) and the kids loved it as always. I love playing music together. It’s so cool how you can just sit down and play music together and not have to say a single word. Music is such a gift.
These people are so lovable. It’s hard, because I can’t help but love them with my whole heart, and it hurts so much to love them like that knowing I may never see them again. I just love them all so much…I can’t help it.
But it’s okay. I may never see them again on earth, but that will only make it even more glorious when I finally see them again in Heaven. I just have to keep reminding myself of that.